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- Sea Fever
- Interpretation
- Drifting
- Enter Ahab
- Monomaniac
- The Whiteness of the Whale
- Sweethearts
- Build Me a Coffin
- Homesick
- The Chase
- Whaleman’s Hymn
Sea Fever
This is the first song I wrote for the album. It’s a poem by John Maesfield that doesn’t specifically have to do with Moby Dick, but I feel like it really captures a lot of the spirit of the first chapter of Moby Dick and it has just been one of my favorite poems for a long time.
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again…
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.
Interpretation
This song is taken from the first part of Chapter 3 “The Spouter-Inn” where Ishmael muses over a painting in the hall of the Spouter Inn that is so smoky and grimy and dim that you can’t tell what it’s meant to depict. This song uses both polyrhythm and polymeter to give a rhythmic sense of being slightly unmoored and confused; in the middle of the song you have a 5/4 over 3/4 polymeter and a 2 over 3 polyrhythm (marimba and drums are the 5, piano is the 3, singing is the 2) so that you get the feeling that you can’t quite tell which is the main beat of the song, just as Ishmael is unsure of the meaning of the painting. As noted later, 5/4 is also used to represent the character of Ahab throughout the album and this song ties into much of the inner turmoil that Ahab experiences throughout the book
In this indecipherable mess
Sublimity seems to shine through
I can’t make out what it might mean
I can’t find my way to the truth
I can’t seem to understand
I can’t seem to make
This make sense to me
I should probably let it be
I should let it be
Maybe it’s just me
Is this reality
Or is it all in my head
I can’t let it be
I can only see
This mess in front of me
As it swirls around my head
I can’t turn it off
I can’t shake the thoughts
I gotta make it stop
Is this confusion inherent in our humanity
Somehow I need to make sense of the seeming insanity
There must be beauty that’s buried beneath all this vanity
Repeated ponderings leave me at a loss
Earnest contemplation of this chaos
Diligent study in unequal cross-lights
Ceaseless subtle hints of substance abound
Incessantly dogging me to find out
What it once was despite my seething doubts
Systematic inquiry seems in vain
Can I know truth or is this all a waste
Am I just imposing meaning on a disarray
The black sea in a midnight gale
A blasted heath
A hyperborean winter scene
The icebound stream of time shattering
Masses of shades and shadows
Orphaned dreams drifting endlessly
Old mountain peaks
Wrapped in thunderous stormcloud wreaths
The cindered heap
Of a million memories
Scorched by senectitude
A half wrecked ship
In a hurricane
Struggling in vain
To break out of the death embrace\
In dire straits
From the whale half impaling himself
On her shattered masts
Drifting
This song features a passage from Chapter 23 “The Lee Shore,” one of the shortest chapters in the book. In this album as a whole I have tried to represent the monotony of being on multi-year voyages (one musical device I employ towards this attempt is rooting every song in A minor), and in this song explore the potential of such isolation to push people to ‘surrender to a hypo(chondria)’ as Ishmael puts it, that is, an overly melancholic and introspective mood. At the end we have a slower more meandering melody in 5/4 tying into the theme of inner turmoil explored throughout the album.
I’ve been drifting
For quite some time
On the open sea
Nowhere to call home
Nothing for me on shore
So I wander endlessly
Someone tell me
If it’s conceit
Or responsibility
To take credit for
The way I live my life
As I float so aimlessly
Wonderfullest things are ever the unmentionable; deep memories yield no epitaphs; But as in landlessness alone resides highest truth, shoreless, indefinite as God—so, better is it to perish in that howling infinite, than be ingloriously dashed upon the lee, even if that were safety! For worm-like, then, oh! who would craven crawl to land! Terrors of the terrible! Is all this agony so vain? Up from the spray of thy ocean-perishing—straight up, leaps thy apotheosis!
I’ve been wondering
If the choice is mine
As I sail this life
Do I ever choose
Or just ride on fate and chance
Or does God decide
I’ve trying
So desperately
To have faith and to believe
But I can’t seem move
This mountain that is me
So I drift here listlessly
Enter Ahab
This is an introduction of the next song and is taken from Chapter 28 “Ahab.” Here we meet one of the central characters of the book, probably the most famous character from Moby Dick.
As I mounted to the deck at the call of the forenoon watch, so soon as I leveled my glance towards the taffrail, foreboding shivers ran over me. Reality outran apprehension; Captain Ahab stood upon his quarter-deck. He looked like a man cut away from the stake, when the fire has overrunningly wasted all the limbs without consuming them, or taking away one particle from their compacted aged robustness. His whole high, broad form, seemed made of solid bronze, and shaped in an unalterable mould, like Cellini’s cast Perseus. Captain Ahab stood, looking straight out beyond the ship’s ever-pitching prow. There was an infinity of firmest fortitude, a determinate, unsurrenderable wilfulness, in the fixed and fearless, forward dedication of that glance. Not a word he spoke; but moody stricken Ahab stood before them with a crucifixion in his face; in all the nameless regal overbearing dignity of some mighty woe.
A Kahn of the plank a king of the sea
A great lord of the leviathans was he
All hail, all rise
Monomaniac
This song explores the character of Ahab from his perspective. I use the musical device of 5/4 time in this song to represent Ahab in the verses, a time signature that has a slightly off kilter 4/4 feel that I think simulates Ahabs imbalanced stride due to his whalebone leg (taken by Moby Dick).
Why do you pester me
With your petty concerns
So paltry to mine
Down dog and kennel
Can’t you see I don’t have the time
Why so selfish self absorbed and blind
There are matters much more important
On my mind
Fate, Ahab, or God
It matters not
To my dying breath I’ll chase yours
I will rage, rage against the dying of the light
This old man won’t go down without a fight
I am bound to chase him down
‘Round the Norway maelstrom
I will hound him through perdition’s flames
To the grave his or mine
He will not escape this time
I will scour every corner of this earth
Goblets raised drink and swear
Death to Moby Dick
He doesn’t have a prayer
A Kahn of the plank a king of the sea
A great lord of the leviathans was he
All hail, all rise
Why do you trouble me
With such trivial things
What a waste of my time
Pull it together
Careful you don’t fall out of line
I can feel it on this ocean breeze
Vengeance hovering so close
That I can just about taste the sweet
A Kahn of the plank a king of the sea
A great lord of the leviathans was he
Fate, Ahab, or God
It matters not
To my dying breath I’ll chase yours
I will rage, rage against the dying of the light
This old man won’t go down without a fight
I am bound to chase him down
‘Round the Norway maelstrom
I will hound him through perdition’s flames
To the grave his or mine
He will not escape this time
I will scour every corner of this earth
Goblets raised drink and swear
Death to Moby Dick
He doesn’t have a prayer
The Whiteness of the Whale
I use the time signature of 7/4 to represent the whale across the album and in this song focus on exploring various metric emphases of 7/4. It is taken from chapter 42 of the same title as the song, and at the beginning of the chapter Ishmael states that this is probably the most important chapter of the book. This chapter is placed in the middle of the book so I placed this song in the middle of the album, giving a roughly chiasmic structure to the record. The chapter is entirely a contemplation of the color of white and how it is both representative of purity and majesty but also terror and death. Musically I oscillate between A minor and A major trying to create a musical ambience of not being sure whether you should be feeling terror or joy.
The mystical hue of white
Emblazoning virgin brides
The sign of ages wisdom
The pallor of death’s prey
The hottest of flames
I must try even if I fail
To describe the whiteness of the whale
Refracting off all we see
Light’s colorless conceits
A million shades
Just subtle deceits like harlot’s paint
Allurement’s charade
I must try even if I fail
To describe the whiteness of the whale
Indefinite it shadows forth
The infinite cosmic shore
Stabs us from
Behind with the thought of
Annihilation
I must try even if I fail
To describe the whiteness of the whale
Sweethearts
Sailors stereotypically like their alcohol. The line at the end is an old British Naval toast.
I like whiskey, I like her a lot
Maybe just a little too much more often than not
I’ve tried to keep her in line
But I just keep swallowing
Her sweet little lies
I like rum but she gets into my head
And I don’t sleep much when I take her to bed
She keeps me up late
And then she wake’s me
Early in the morning ah she’s such a headache
So raise, raise a glass
For your lasses, your loves
Pour, pour a round
Drink it down
For your gals
I love gin she’s a classy gem
Says she’ll always be beside me to the bitter end
She don’t ask much
Just my tender touch
All my money and attention all my life and my love
I love brandy my honey my sweet
When I need a little sugar she can’t be beat
But she
Won’t let me be
Always nagging at my back she’s got her claws in me
So raise, raise a glass
For your lasses, your loves
Pour, pour a round
Drink it down
For your gals
Oh I often wonder if I’ll ever find some peace
All these lovely ladies might just be the death of me
Today I’m feeling I should really leave ‘em all behind
Even though I think I said the same thing just last night
So raise one last glass
For your lasses, your loves
Pour one last round
Drink it down
For your gals
So here’s to our sweethearts
And to our wives
May they never ever meet
Until the day we die
Build Me a Coffin
This song explores another main character in the book Queequeg and is taken from Chapter 110 “Queequeg in His Coffin.”
Call the carpenter to carve me a coffin
Death’s knocking at my door
We’ll have a drink and long conversation
‘Cause that’s what friends are for
I wanna be out in the ocean
Forever floating on that great expanse
In the end cradled by water
The element from which the world began
Call the carpenter to build me a casket
Sturdy and water tight
Send me off to sail the seas of forever
In water and in light
I wanna be rocked to sleep
By the waves in death as I was in life
Eternally caressed by the breeze
Of the seas as I ride among the tides
Don’t wrap me in hammock and rope
And dump me for sharks off the boat
Don’t burn up my body and bones
I don’t wanna go up in smoke
Oh don’t bury me under the dirt
With funeral trappings and words
I don’t want a grave at a church
Don’t cover me over with earth
I wanna drift off the horizon
To the starry isles of the milky way
A galaxy of uncharted seas
Is calling me to explore their misty reefs
Call the carpenter to craft me a vessel
Fit for this final quest
I wanna be forever in motion
My eternal rest
I want the song of the breakers
Sounding out as I leave for those distant shores
The water pounding roaring resounding
A thunderous requiem crashing out forevermore
(Don’t wrap me in hammock and rope
And dump me for sharks off the boat
Don’t burn up my body and bones
I don’t wanna go up in smoke)
Oh don’t bury me under the dirt
With funeral trappings and words
I don’t want a grave at a church
Don’t cover me over with earth
Homesick
This song explores the character Starbuck, the first mate of the Pequod, who talks about how he misses his wife and son. It’s an exploration of some of the feelings that I imagine a sailor with a family might have being out on such long work trips, and the nature of love and marriage within that context.
Sometimes
Right at dawn I take our boy
To wait and watch the water
For a sign of sails
I rise
Lately with a dimming recollection
Of your touch
‘Cause we’re drifting farther
On the waters
Of time
Do you still
Climb each morning to the hill
My eyes
Strain to see your sails against the light
Oh this
Distance feels so permanent
I miss
The fading memory of your kiss
I hate (I pray)
The tides of time (Your presence)
That dim your face (Doesn’t dim with age)
Come home (I hope)
I can’t stand (I can drift)
Not knowing where you are (My way back home to you)
These days
I just wanna hold you to remind
Me how you feel
Pressed up against my chest
I’ve tried
To fight the unrelenting tides
Of time that dull your touch
Do you still
Think of me upon the hill
Oh I
Strain to recollect you every night
Oh this
Distance feels so permanent
I miss
The fading memory of your kiss
I hate (I pray)
The tides of time (Your presence)
That dim your face (Doesn’t dim with age)
Come home (I hope)
I can’t stand (I can drift)
Not knowing where you are (My way back home to you)
The sullen grey
Of these ocean waves
Never stops
Crashing on the rocks
Of our time worn love
Oh it hurts so much
That I feel sometimes
It’s not worth the fight
But I won’t let my feelings (I won’t let my feelings)
Get in the way of our love (get in the way)
So I choose to stay
I choose you today
Let the waves crash on
Till the break of dawn
Let ’em drive
Our hearts into one
Till they’re worn smooth
I choose you
The Chase
This song is based on the last 3 chapters of the book of the same name as the song. Here we have both 7/4 (played by the bass synthesizer sound representing the whale) and 5/4 (played by the piano representing Ahab) competing against each other, representing in musical form Ahab and the Whale duking it out.
This whole act’s immutably decreed
Fate’s lieutenant irrevocably
That is who I am to be
Choice is just a fable for the weak
I will rain my rage on that whale
Sharpen your lances lads it’s time
My vengeance will not be denied
I will pierce that iron hide
Even if it cost’s my life
I will rain my rage on that whale
Lower the boats and send them forward
Put your back into those oars
Over and over and over again
Over and over and over again
row, row, row…
If the gods think to speak outright to man, they will honorably speak outright; not shake their heads, and give an old wives’ darkling hint. Ahab stands alone among the millions of the peopled earth, nor gods nor men his neighbors! Sing out for every spout, though he spout ten times a second!
Search the horizon
Scan every wave
Stare till your blind
Then still don’t stop your gaze
Stand by the braces
Hard down the helm
Pull in the stunsail
Chase down that whale
Now breach your last
Your hour’s at hand
Your doom draws night
This harpoon I
Will soon unleash
On you fell beast
Breath your last breath
I am your death
From all your furthest bounds, pour ye now in, ye bold billows of my whole foregone life. Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.
Whaleman’s Hymn
I think this song speaks for itself.
Oh mother
To sail the seas
And leave this land behind
We ship at dawn
I must be on
My way
No turning back
Oh father
The storms ahead
Cannot be won just faced
The best that we
Can hope achieve
Is to weather them
With strength
And all I want
Is to be free
To feel the sea
Beneath my feet
To choose my fate
And carve a place
For me to have
A little faith
Oh sister
Will hindsight ever
Heal our broken bones
Will memories
Ever appease
The wounds we hold
So close
Oh brother
Will foresight ever
Liberate our souls
Will fantasy
Ever appease
Our dreams
Of what could be
And all I want
Is to be free
Of broken dreams
And memories
To just be now
Before I drown
From all this
Dragging me around
Oh lover
I’ve cast my lot
To brave these ocean deeps
So pray for me
And do not weep
The waves are calling me
I must be off to sea